Pencil Box
by BlackFireProdigy
Summary: Civilians have landed on the ZAFT ship as they chase the Archangel. As civilians, Cagalli and a girl plan to make an escape to Earth, but can they risk their lives to help the other civilians? Can they even get out themselves? YxOC AxC Follows the series
1. Civilians

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED, its characters, etc…

For this fan fiction, the names you may or may not recognize due to how it might be differently spelled. For example, Athrun, Yzak, Dearka, Cagalli, Nicol, and any others I have forgotten to mention, is how it will be spelled. Also, all this takes place right after Heliopolis one blown up and before the first battle in space with the Archangel. The Archangel is trying to get to Artemis.

* * *

The control room's technology beeped and blinked as the people tried to locate the destination and location of the Archangel. One of the soldiers present told Le Crueset that a heat source was slowly approaching the Vesalius, but certainly not the ship they were looking for. It was an escape pod, most likely from Heliopolis. 

"What do we do, sir?"

Before he could respond, Yzak did. "We leave them. This ship isn't a place for civilians. And they're from that so-called neutral Heliopolis. A number of them could be with the Earth Alliance for all we know. It'd be too risky."

"Yzak, we can't just leave those people to drift through space and die. We should help them. We did blow up their homes…" Athrun said, looking slightly guilty for the trouble and damage he and the rest of them caused.

"Well Athrun," Le Crueset said calmly, "if you feel sure that the civilians will not cause any harm of any sorts, I'll leave you and Yzak to handle and keep an eye on them."

"What?" Yzak yelled out. "Why do I have to baby sit too?" He was ignored.  
-  
The ship was retrieved easily. People scrambled out nervously, looking at their surroundings, noticing the people's uniform, the ship, everything. They were on a ZAFT ship. Whispers and conversations about their situation were exchanged. An infant was crying and some children were clinging onto their parents.

In the back of the line, was Cagalli. Yzak, Athrun, and a few other people, all with guns guided them to their rooms to make sure none of them snuck off anywhere in their ship. Almost immediately, Cagalli began to shout. "Hey, where the hell are we? You can't point guns at us; we're civilians! Dammit."

Yzak looked like he was about to yell when someone else cut in. "Calm down." A black, short haired girl with red eyes said, standing in front of Cagalli in line. She was wearing a strange outfit. Her elbows, ankles, and her neck each had a thin, black ribbon tied around it. The heels of her shoes and many other random parts of her clothing were black while the rest was white. She said calmly, with her black backpack around only one shoulder. "Do you _want_ them to shoot you?"

Cagalli pouted a bit and gave her a sort of angry look and continued with the others.  
-  
Despite being with people whom they trusted-whether or not they were related, the children cried because felt the soldiers pointed weapons at them were hostile.

After the others were in their rooms, only Cagalli and the girl remained. The rest of the soldiers and Yzak had left all thinking they had better things to do and Athrun can surely handle two girls. They stood outside the door to their new room. Before opening it, Athrun spoke to Cagalli in a warm but warning voice.

"You shouldn't be so loud-mouthed here. It's dangerous. Hardly anyone here wanted you people here and they'll be happy to find any excuse to get rid of even one, if not all of you."

"Well, stop treating a bunch of civilians as fugitive or prisoners." Cagalli's voice softened.

"This is exactly what he's talking about." The girl shook her head and tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Athrun to open the door.

"I'm just warning you all. Be careful." He kept staring at Cagalli as he spoke, making Cagalli feel slightly uncomfortable.

"'you all?'" the girl asked playfully. "Well, _she_ seems to be the only one you're really warning." She smirked. Ignoring her, Athrun opened the door. After the girls got insides, he locked it and left.

The room was pretty basic. A bed on both sides of the wall and a small table, with a chair, in between, pressed against the far wall. Another chair stood on the right of the door, below a light switch. More on the right was a small bathroom. The bedroom was a pretty cozy place for a prisoner.

"Great, we're all captured by ZAFT. Who knows what they'll do with us?" Cagalli asked the wall more than the girl.

"Kill us-though that'd be unlikely, throw us at headquarters or a base somewhere where a some council or some sort will decide what'll happen, or the ship will get blown up and we're all screwed."

"Jeez. It was a rhetorical question. And the answer doesn't make me feel any better."

"It wasn't supposed to." She said, laying her backpack on the bed on the left-side of the room and took a deep breath and let it out.. "We're probably gonna be here a while. We need to stop arguing about useless topics and think about what we're going to do here.

"…Okay…" Cagalli hesitated in making friends with such a sarcastic and pretty rude girl, but she figured the girl was right about them staying for a while.

And as if the girl read her mind, she immediately said,"But this doesn't mean we're friends or anything. My name's Naomi. Naomi Takashi."

"My name's Cagalli…"

"Neither one of us are very thrilled with being trapped here so I say we try and escape."

"What? How can we?"

"With this..." She took keyboard out of her backpack. She pushed a button and a virtual screen appeared over it. It looked like a normal, ordinary, everyday computer. Cagalli peered at the screen. Nothing special about that either.

Naomi began clicking some screens, typing some passwords, and soon enough the screen was decorated with information, files, secrets, records, and a wide variety of who knows what else.

"W-what the heck is this?"

"Meet a hacker's greatest dream come true. I made it myself. It has the appearance of a normal computer, but with a few secret passwords and codes, it goes into what I call 'Hack Mode'. It really comes in handy."

Naomi got up and took a cable out of her backpack. She went over to the device on the wall that had them locked in. She pried open a part under the number buttons. It revealed a series of beeping lights, wires, and more importantly, a place to plug a cable in.

"Hey. What are you planning to do?" Cagalli inquired.

Naomi ignored Cagalli's question. "Do you know how many civilians are here?"

"Hmm…I think so. Earlier I counted the number of people that boarded this ship from the pod. There were fourteen, not including us. Three girls that seemed to be together without their families, three children, each with at least one parent, one old man, three men and four woman."

"I'm willing to bet there are 5 or so rooms being occupied. This is only a guess assuming everyone was put with families or friends, or are in pairs of two like us."

"If we can get the codes for every room, we could think of an escape plan and get everyone out of here." Cagalli looked excited. "This is great! I'm pretty sure we're not very from Earth. If we escape while we're close to it, we can get to Orb and the civilians will be safe like the rest who escaped Heliopolis."

Naomi closed her eyes for a few moments, thinking about Cagalli's plan. Her face looked serious. She opened her eyes and continued working without answering Cagalli. She suddenly looked incredibly annoyed.

"There's already a problem?"

"I can only get the codes from the rooms that are being locked and not to mention there are two codes each, one to get in and one out. We'll need both and that'll be double the work and time."

Suddenly, there was some commotion. People outside were running around. The speakers screamed "Level Two Battle Alert."

* * *

Continue on with chapter two please. 

Review, review, review!


	2. Bravery

* * *

"Damn. This ship better be tough. I don't plan on dying here." Naomi typed faster. 

"A battle? Hey, that gives me an idea. Can you hack into the schedules of the soldiers or something?"

"I can try. Why?"

"If we find out their shifts, we'll know when to avoid them when we try getting everyone else's' door codes and when we try our big escape."

"…I got both the codes to our door..." Naomi closed her computer and sighed.

"Let's go." Cagalli got up and helped carry Naomi's computer cable.

"Wait. We're going now?"

"They're all in battle. This is our chance to tell everyone else about how we can get the codes so maybe they'll be calmer or something. Tonight we'll get the soldier schedule and a map of the ship will help."

"Speaking of which, how are we going to find the control room?"

"Err…well…we'll just have to look."

"That's stupid. What if we get caught?"

"We don't have a choice. There's no other way to know where it is…"

"Whatever, let's talk about that later. For now, we'll focus on getting the other passwords and telling all the other civilians." Naomi had the laptop under her arm, told Cagalli the codes to get in and out. 23688 had to be entered to get into their room and to get out, 68177 was the code.

They left their room and headed to the others.

Naomi had been right. There were a total of 6 rooms being occupied. One room had one child and both its parents, one with the three teenage girls, one with the elderly man and his son, and another had a married couple with another woman they did not know and had to share a room with.

There was only one room left to go to. It contained two children and a mother.

Naomi had been the first to reach it. She opened the door quickly after getting more familiar with cracking codes. Naomi tried getting the final code while Cagalli told the people in the room what was going on.

The mother looked relieved and happy that they'd have a chance to escape. She rocked her little baby, trying to get her to sleep but the little girl continued to bawl and cry. The other child, a boy about the age of four or five, was sitting on his bed looking scared, crying silently.

The baby's crying was pounding on Naomi's ears. She finally lost her temper and turned around to tell the dang thing to be quiet. She was surprised to see Cagalli talking to the little boy.

"Stop crying kid. You're the man of your family right?"

The little boy shook his head, "The pod was full. Daddy had to find another. I don't know where Daddy is." The ship shook, and people ran around outside.

The ship was hit pretty badly. Naomi was hoping ZAFT would be smart enough to withdraw. After a bit of time, the ship was on the move and retreated.

The uproar just made the little boy more upset.

"Stop that; stop crying. You have to be brave for your mom and sister. You have to be brave for them. Besides, that weirdly dressed girl over there and I will get us all out of here and you'll see your dad again. I promise."

The boy laughed at what she said about Naomi and nodded his head slowly. "O-okay…" he got up almost instantly, wiped his face a bit, and started playing and fooling with his little sister to cheer her up. She stopped crying.

The woman looked at Cagalli happily. "Thank you for calming down Akito. He's the only one that can get Aya here out of her tantrums."

It was quiet again and Naomi was able to concentrate again. In no time, she got the code and signaled it was time for her and Cagalli to leave.

As they got out, Naomi mumbled to Cagalli, "You shouldn't make promises you may not be able to keep."

"What?"

Just then, in a short distance, yelling was heard. Some boys were arguing about the fight that had just taken place. The girls were able to hear only some random words of the conversation such as, "Embarrassment", "Four mobile suits", "Damage", and insults pointed at one person. Then calming words were spoken to break up the fight. It sounded as though one of them was leaving the room frustrated and another followed.

The frustrated person closed in as the other one went in the other direction. As he came closer, Cagalli and Naomi scrambled into their rooms. Cagalli was ahead of Naomi and entered the code as quickly as she could.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Yzak yelled.

Naomi handed Cagalli her laptop and cable quickly and pushed her inside the room and closed the door. Yzak approached her.

He paused in front of Naomi and stared at her strange outfit. Moments later, he got back to being enraged. "You can't leave your rooms! How the hell did you even get out?"

Lucky for both the girls, Yzak hadn't seen Cagalli in the hallways or outside. He just saw Naomi. "Umm…umm…" Naomi searched her mind for a good excuse until she came up with one. "The door was open and I was hungry so I decided to go find something to eat. My roommate told me I shouldn't go and tried getting me back in, but after she heard you, she went inside and the door suddenly closed…" Her excuse wasn't that bad, but she'd have to pat herself on the back later.

"The door was open? Who escorted you to your room?" he didn't seem very unconvinced.

Naomi tried remembering and prayed the boy that escorted them was usually clumsy. "I think it was some blue-haired guy with green eyes."

"Athrun…" Yzak mumbled thinking Naomi wasn't listening. "That idiot; No surprise he messes up outside the battlefield either." he looked at Naomi. "Get back in there. I'll be right back with food. Even if the door is open, don't leave. It won't take much for someone to point a gun and shoot you." A warning about getting shot, where had she heard that before?

"No one will answer you if you get hungry. You get three meals a day that will be brought by me or Athrun. You'll only get a snack this time because we don't know when the last time you ate was."

Yzak opened the door and pushed Naomi's shoulder and she drifted in (no gravity) before she could object.

Naomi stood at the door, looking dazed. "I can't believe that actually worked."

"What happened?"

"I made up some lies and now the guy's off to get food because I said I was hungry. Or… at least, that's what I _think_ just happened…""You don't know? You weren't even paying attention even though what just happened might've been life threatening for you?"

"W-well…" Naomi blushed slightly in embarrassment.

Cagalli looked at her curiously and laughed. "What? Were you too busy staring at that guy?"

"And the way you drooled over that blue-haired guy was so much better."

Cagalli got angry, and turned her face to the side as it turned red.

Naomi turned serious and changed the subject before the two got any friendlier. "Where's my laptop?"

"It's on your bed."

"Good." She went straight towards it. "All the codes are stored here." You remember the codes to get in and out of here right?"

"Yea…"

"Good, so I won't have to remind you incase we get separated."

"'Separated'? What do you mean?"

"Well…it looks like we'll be exploring this giant ship until we find that dang control room…" Then Naomi looked up as if she suddenly had a magnificent idea, "unless, of course, there's another way to know where it is…"

"How are we going-"Cagalli couldn't finish her sentence because she was interrupted by the door opening as Yzak stood there with a tray of food.

* * *


	3. Temper

* * *

Yzak set down the tray of food on the nearest table. He was halfway out the door when Naomi ran up behind him. He looked at Naomi. "Hey. What are you trying to pull? You can't leave-" 

"I know, I know. I can't leave this room. But we're all on a giant ZAFT ship with all sorts of technology, and weapons, and all that stuff, and you guys just came from battle. You can't expect us to keep quiet."

"You want to complain, go whine to Athrun." He looked like he was about to leave again.

"No, no, I'm not complaining, I'm interested. I want to see some of the ship or something."

"Why would you be interested in battle?"

"I grew up loving fights. Shooting down the enemy no matter who they may be to battle for whatever it is that you're fighting for. My father was a military man and always built things and I loved watching him and……" Naomi saw Yzak was getting bored. "I'll stop talking if you just give me a small tour. I'll stop annoying you. I promise."

"No."

Nayomi smirked. "You have such a terrible temper. You yell a lot, don't you? Is that how you are when you're against enemies in the war? You need to calm down. If not, you'll be an easy target." She said casually as she inconspicuously walked out the door.

"What?" he took a breath and followed. He was too busy wondering what she meant to notice they had left the room.

"You're fighting a _war_. Those kinds of emotions will only get you _killed_." Naomi's eyes grew a bit sad. "You need someone; A friend, a companion or someone that'll calm you down when you're about to get mad… someone you should _never_ let go of..."

Yzak stared at her for a bit, wondering what (or who) she could possibly mean, when suddenly, Naomi saw a door which they passed and asked what it was.

Yzak finally snapped out of whatever held him and realized they were too far from Naomi's room. "You have to go back, right now."

"Is that the control room?"

Yzak didn't respond. The door opened suddenly.  
--  
Cagalli heard footsteps outside. She figured it was Naomi, coming back. But then, why weren't there two people? The noise stopped at the room before. A door opened for a bit, closed, and the footsteps continued to come. Cagalli knew it wasn't Naomi. She had to make sure the person didn't know her roommate was out, in case she hadn't found the control room yet.

She jumped at the restroom, turned on the lights and water, and closed the door. She made it back to her bed in time for Athrun to open the door.

He looked around the room a bit. "Where's that other girl?"

"Naomi? She's in the bathroom."

Athrun stood there for a second and heard the water. He was about to leave when he saw the tray of food. Cagalli knew he was looking at the food and quickly said, "Another person from ZAFT brought that for Naomi… but she went to bathe when the person brought the food in." Cagalli realized that even though she spent only a bit of time with Naomi, she was picking up her skill of lying.

Athrun wasn't really listening. "You need anything to eat?"

Cagalli looked at Athrun for a second. "No."

"You haven't been losing your temper much, I hope." He smiled lightly.

"There's no one to yell at except Naomi, and she's hopeless…!"

Athrun still just smiled. "That's good news. We don't want you getting hurt." After he finished saying his last sentence, he left.  
--  
Dearka stepped out at stared at Yzak and Naomi. "Who's the oddly dressed girl?" Dearka looked at Naomi. "A civilian…? But they aren't supposed to stay in their rooms?" He looked at Naomi.

Yzak looked to his side, and scowled. Naomi immediately peered inside the room before the door closed. Bingo, the control room. Yzak pushed Naomi in the direction of her room and Dearka followed.

As they walked, Yzak attempted to try and explain what he and Naomi were doing without making it sound like he made a mistake and was fooled into letting Naomi walk around freely.

"You are not allowed to leave this room." Yzak told Naomi.

"And you can't take little girls on dates on our ship." Dearka told Yzak, laughing.

"What?"

They continued to argue but since the door was opened already, Naomi went inside as the door closed behind her. The boys continued to argue but had left. Naomi listened to the voices get more and more distant until she couldn't hear them anymore. Naomi sat down on the bed where her backpack laid. She fell backwards and her back landed on her new, and hopefully temporary, pillow. Cagalli stepped out of the bathroom after she turned off the water and lights.

"How did it go, do you know where the room is?"

Naomi almost forgot what Cagalli was talking about. The second remembered she sprang back up and almost hit her head on the top part above her bed. "Of course I know. Where did you think I was just now? Drinking tea and having a snack?"

"That doesn't sound that bad right now…" her stomach growled.

"Why didn't you just eat the food that's right there?" Naomi pointed at the table where Yzak had left the food. "It's probably all cold now… Jeez."

Cagalli grabbed some and took it to her bed and ate it. Naomi got her laptop and typed a bit. She put it on the table where the food was and got back in bed and laid there watching Cagalli consume the food. Cagalli held up an apple to offer to Naomi. She just turned over. "When you're done, go to sleep. You won't be getting any tonight." She closed her eyes and slept.   
--  
A small group of people that were coming back from another section of space came floating by in a ship. They were so happy and glad to almost be getting home from wherever they were before. May have it been a vacation, a visit to some relatives, fighting, or just plain traveling.

The people were sitting there laughing, talking, having fun, and enjoying themselves. _Boom!_

The remains of homes, buildings, and cities all floated in an area which was once a home to thousands of people.

The small craft drifted away from the explosion area and back to where it came from. Everyone went from happy and laughing to depressed and in tears.  
--  
Naomi woke up in a cold sweat only to find Cagalli hovering over her, shaking her and yelling,"Wake up. It should be late enough that we can get to the control room safely." An annoying beeping sound rang throughout the room. The laptop on the floor beside her bed buzzed loudly. Naomi took her pillow and hit Cagalli for shaking her so hard. She got up and turned the 'alarm clock' off.

Soon enough, they were both ready to go outside and try to the information they needed from the ZAFT ship to finally escape.

* * *


	4. Coward

* * *

Two soldiers sleepily walked down the halls of the Vesalius, talking casually about recent fights, their families, and such. Cagalli was in the corner of the hallway ahead of them. Naomi suddenly held out her hand to stop Cagalli from venturing any farther. She signaled to go down another corridor until the militia had left the area. 

They darted toward the other hallway and watched the men pass by slowly. The girls continued their way to the control room. Once there, Cagalli stood and the door and listened in. She was able to hear the faint humming and beeping of the machinery and equipment. She pulled Naomi away from the door and asked what they were planning to do.

Naomi walked back to the door and connected her mobile cable with the door controls. She explained quietly that she didn't need to be inside the control room, she just needed access to its information and to get as close as they could to it.

Typing silently, Naomi activated Hacker Mode and a little bar appeared one the computer screen. It slowly began to fill up. The words "Download Completed" flashed. Naomi repeated this process a few times, and then signaled to Cagalli it was time for them to head back to the rooms.

Naomi stepped in and pulled up a chair near the lone desk. Cagalli took a seat next to her. The computer flashed back to life and opened several new files. Naomi pointed to the screen, as she spoke. "Unfortunately, there aren't any useful schedules to hack into. The only schedules listed were the shifts for the crew in the control room, which wouldn't be very helpful to us right now. But it's still in my computer just in case."

"There also seems to be two people who have been assigned to baby-sit all the civilians. I think they're those guys we've already met. Anyways, according to this, the other soldiers don't patrol much, and if they're anything like the ones we just avoided, it'll be easy." She continued on. "As for the map…"

Naomi pushed a button on the keypad and a large picture filled the screen. It had twists and turns, many rectangles which signified rooms with labels on them. Cagalli's eyes quickly scanned the map. She pointed to something towards the back of the ship. Escape pods. "Do you think we could use them to escape?"

"Hmm… that idea doesn't sound half bad." Naomi typed some more and accessed more files she got from the control room. "This ship is chasing a new Earth ship… They're after new…mobile suits that the Earth has recently made in a supposedly neutral area." Cagalli shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "ZAFT has captured four, and Earth has one which has been fending off the four… That's incredible. That other mobile suit must be very powerful." Naomi looked at Cagalli and decided to stop talking about the mobile suits. "Anyways, Earth is probably going to try to get to Artemis, then their base on the moon. Maybe on the way to the moon, we can get off at Earth?"

Cagalli nodded. "We have to bring the other civilians."

"We can't afford to risk our lives to save the rest of them."

"What was the point of getting all the codes for the door if we aren't going to help them?"

"In case we need something from any other person's room. If one of us is injured, one of the others may be a doctor, etcetera. Besides, I didn't want you to lose your temper and not help because you wanted to assist the other people."

Cagalli's face turned red with anger. "Are…are you kidding me? Think of all those people who will need our help. If we escape, the ZAFT soldiers will notice and might kill the rest. What about the little boy I promised to save?"

"I told you that you shouldn't have promised him anything."

Cagalli looked at Naomi with disgust and slapped her hard on the face. "This is about just keeping a damn promise!" she stood up and swiftly cut a horizontal line in the air with her arm in anger. "It's about saving people's lives! We can't just leave them here to die while we run away!"

Naomi stood up as well and calmly walked to her bed to sit down. She gave Cagalli an angry glare. "What are we going to save by risking our own lives? If we get caught with them, no one will get out alive! Who can we help then?"

"The least we can do is try!"

Naomi fell on her pillow and her thin blanket at the end of the bed flew up and back down. She grabbed the ends and pulled it half-way over her head and mumbled, "You can go ahead and uselessly waste your life to help them. I'm going to make it out of here alive with or without you. Feel free to join me any time, Cagalli. It makes no difference." and with that, Naomi closed her eyes.

Seeing it was useless to continue speaking, Cagalli climbed into her bed used the few remaining hours of night-time to sleep.  
--  
It was the middle of summer. The small apartment building was what they lived in. They used to live in a decent sized house, but money began to run low. The only source of electricity that was ever on was the television which was always on at maximum volume, though no one ever watched.

There was never any light, the shades were always pulled downs, and the place was always dark. The place reeked of vomit and alcohol. The little girl sat in the corner, silently. Her mother was on the couch, drinking again. She looked at the picture frame lying on the ground. Broken shards of glass were scattered about, the picture laid inside the framework.

The mother was exceeding her usual drinking limits. She wasn't stopping. The little girl feared for the worse, so she hid herself in the closet. The door to the small residence swung open and a child about the age of the daughter entered. The mother looked angrily at the intruder.

The daughter opened the door just a peek to look outside, and was horrified to see her dearest, and only friend from school, standing at her doorstep, facing down her pissed off, over-drunken mother.  
--  
Naomi's eye lids flew open at once. Once again, she was drenched in her own sweat. She looked about the room in confusion. She saw her laptop laid on top of a table, two doors inside a small room. Her eyes rested on the empty bed on the other side of the room. After a few moments, she remembered where she was.

Naomi flew out of bed and looked into the dark bathroom. No one was there. Cagalli had left the room. What had she been thinking when she gave the door codes to Cagalli? Naomi was out in the hallway in an instant.

Naomi moved cautiously since she had no idea what time it was and whether or not anyone was awake. Naomi went door to door, listening in to see if she could hear Cagalli's voice in any of the rooms. Cagalli opened the door to the last room and Naomi hurried over to confront her.

"What are you doing here?"

Cagalli walked past Naomi, "I'm telling everyone else about the escape pods. I didn't bother trying to wake you up since you could really care less about these people," She stopped a few steps behind Naomi and turned slightly towards her, "coward."

Naomi's fist shook violently. "I am…not…"

Cagalli had already walked on to her room. Naomi still stood there and looked into the room which Cagalli and just left. The mother was holding her baby closely to her chest, rocking her to sleep. The little boy was sitting on a chair, laughing with his family. Naomi couldn't help but to feel a little sentimental and, at the same time, gloomy.

Naomi stared at the family with soft eyes but walked away defiantly. The little boy ran out the door before it closes and tugged at the Naomi's pants, looking up at her with innocent little eyes. "Thanks for helping us all, Weirdly-Dressed Girl."

Naomi gently took the boy's hand and shook her head, telling him she wasn't doing much to help at all. The boy looked at her, "Of course you are. You and Cagalli are going to get us out of here so we can see our dad again. You were here last time too. And you guys opened the doors…and…" his voice was filled with confusion and a bit of panic.

"Don't worry. Cagalli will get you out of here all the same." Naomi held the little boys hand and guided him back to his room and opened the door. He walked in slowly with a slightly sadder look on his face than when he came out.

Before the door closed, Naomi looked at the small child. She saw an image of a friend. Someone she knew long ago. They were so similar. The door closed automatically and Naomi trudged back to her room.

Cagalli was on her bed, her body faced up, her eyes were open. She was lost in thought, thinking of a plan and day to escape.

Naomi stepped into the bathroom without making eye contact with Cagalli when she looked over her shoulder at Naomi. She stood over the sink and splashed her face with a handful of cold water. She looked at herself in the mirror.

"Sorry…Kiyo, for what happened…I was a coward…but am I still? ...Even after all this time…? A 'coward'…" Drops of water ran down her face and into the sink as her eyes turned red. She got more cold water and continued splashing water on her face silently.

* * *


	5. Visiting

"You have got to be kidding me…" Naomi said annoyed. "You want me to go around lying to everyone that I'm helping out?"

"No. I haven't even told them you gave up. I just want you to reassure them, at the very least." Cagalli corrected her.

"What a complete waste of time… This is all because you had to go visit them and they noticed I wasn't tagging along. It is not like I am all that important anyways, especially since you are so confident you are going to be their 'savior'. How _do_ you plan to get them out of here anyways?"

Cagalli's face grew red with anger. "I am not going to tell you. And besides, it'd be easier for me if everyone thought I had a good plan and felt safe."

"You mean you don't have a plan…?" Naomi said mockingly. Cagalli remained silent.

"Fine, I'll go if you stop bothering and pestering me. But if they need anymore comfort, I am going to just ignore them, _and_ you."

Naomi was out the door before Cagalli could say anything about the terms of agreement. The first room was occupied by two parents and the child. She went in, talked for a bit, and when they started smiling, she left. Naomi hoped all the other rooms were going to be that easy.

The room with the three girls was simple enough. They conversed and talked amongst themselves and almost jumped in joy when Naomi arrived. They asked her if they could do anything at all to help. She stood there and told them, "I'll let you know if we need help. We'll be out of here in no time." The girls seemed satisfied and full of hope and Naomi left that room as well.

Naomi didn't even understand what Cagalli was so crazy about. All the people seemed absolutely fine. She felt tempted to turn around and leave but Cagalli would demand she continue on and maybe she would even tag along to make sure Naomi wasn't fooling around. How annoying.

The room with the elderly man and a man in his mid-forties was a bit noisy when Naomi entered. The old man shouted a bit loudly about why he could not have the codes to move about freely and a bunch of kids could. He yelled that they were never leaving and their lives depended on two little girls. Naomi was extremely tempted to kick the guy in the shin and leave.

His son tried to calm his son down and apologized to Naomi. "He is not normally this way. Staying here has made him very tense. We do appreciate your help, but it'd be best if you left now in case my father gets any angrier."

Naomi was practically shoved out of the room before she had a chance to object. She thought that the man could handle his father and calm him down so she continued.  
-  
Cagalli closely followed to see if Naomi was _really_ talking to everyone. Naomi entered yet another room. Cagalli stood a few feet away from the door and waited. She suddenly felt something tap her on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Athrun standing behind her looking slightly angry. 

"How did you get out of your room?" he asked her.

Cagalli said the first thing that came into her mind, "The door was unlocked. The other guy who was here probably forgot to lock it." She knew Naomi used that excuse and hoped it would work twice.

Athrun thought for a bit and he looked convinced enough. "Is Naomi also outside?" (Author's Note: Cagalli said Naomi's name in front of Athrun and apparently he heard. That is basically how they all learn each others' names.)

Cagalli figured lying to him when he was probably going to check the room was a stupid idea. "Yea…"

"Yzak," he called out, "you left the door open. These civilians might have gotten hurt because of your carelessness."

"What? You left the doors unlocked the first time, you idiot!"

Athrun eyed Cagalli suspiciously. "Just go find the other one. I am taking her back."

"Damn Athrun." Yzak muttered under his breath as he walked by Cagalli and down the hall.

Athrun guided Cagalli back to her room just as Naomi left the room she has previously entered. "I could've sworn I heard Cagalli's voice…" she shrugged and went into the last room.  
-  
As Athrun opened Cagalli's room, the ship tilted to the left. Cagalli lost her balance and was caught by Athrun. He smiled gently as Cagalli blushed deeply. She straightened herself up and dusted her clothes off and entered her room. Athrun looked inside and saw it was dark and Cagalli's roommate was nowhere to be seen. He closed the door and silently hoped Yzak would forget to lock it again.  
-  
Naomi stepped into the room to find that Akito and Aya were asleep. Their mother was sitting on a nearby chair, ruffling Akito's hair lightly with her fingers, smiling and, watching them sleep. She looked up and saw Naomi and stood. They talked quietly in the corner so they would not disturb the kids.

"They're just so adorable, aren't they?" She started the conversation and caught Naomi off guard.

"Yea…I guess so."

"You hacked into the database of the ship right? I assume you know about the mobile suits on Heliopolis. Their father was one of the civilians hired to guard those things. Luckily, he worked the night-shift so he wasn't on duty during the attack. He was with us when it happened, and as Akito said, the pod was too full and he ran to another."

"What if he didn't make it?"

"You aren't a very optimistic person, are you?"

"Not really."

"In time like these, all we can do is hope, do all that we can, and live on. If anything _did_ happen, I can honestly say he lived with no regrets and wouldn't want his family to suffer because of his passing on."

"He sounds like a good man…" Naomi's eyes filled with sadness and sympathy once again.

Akito began to wake up. He got up slowly and carefully to not wake his little sister up and walked towards his mother and Naomi.

Naomi knelt down to Akito. "I just dropped by to say that things are going well so far, etcetera. Everything will be fine and we will all be out of here soon enough."

Akito looked so innocent and small. He smiled widely and thanked Naomi. She suddenly embraced the little boy. "I'm so sorry Kiyo…"

The little boy was confused and looked up at his mother looked a bit shocked. Her face was calm down and she gave Akito a comforting smile. He began smiling too. Naomi silently cried on the little boy's shoulder.  
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	6. Kiyo

Excuse for taking so long to finish this chapter? I was on vacation over the summer and school was starting. My sister left for college and I went to visit her. Umm… when she was still here she used the computer, I didn't have many ideas so I procrastinated a lot.

That is all. Continue on.  
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Naomi lied on her bed staring up at the ceiling of the room. She sat up and faced Cagalli. She scratched her head pensively and swallowed her pride as she spoke.

"Are you still awake?"

Cagalli raised her hand up to show she wasn't asleep.

"Well, you can just lie there while I talk..." Naomi took a deep breath as if she has been thinking long and hard. Her eyes once again filled with sadness. "There is a reason I am afraid to help you; to help everyone on this ship...First off, my last name is really Takanori (Author's Note: Takanori as in Takanori Makes Revolution, AKA T.M. Revolution. J-Rock!). Second, I'm a Coordinator which is why I am able to build a computer with such an advanced hacking program. My parents were Coordinators too." Cagalli sat up; her face showed signs of urging Naomi to continue her story.

"It started when I was young I suppose. My father was never home. He spent weeks and weeks at Junius 7. My mother was a drunk. She was depressed without my father. Compared to most girls, Coordinators and Naturals, I was a bit strange. I had no friends at school except one; Kiyo. I used every excuse possible to leave my house and go to his and get away from my mom."

"One day, my mother was especially drunk, so I stayed home to make sure she didn't get into too much trouble. Kiyo was always so damn curious about what my house looked like. He used the phone book to check where I lived and thought it would be funny to come and surprise me." She stopped to blink back a few escaping tears. "My mother took one look at Kiyo and started beating on him. She was never really a fan of Naturals…"

"I was hiding in the closet. Kiyo saw me there and just smiled. I was too afraid to move...too afraid to do anything at all. I just watched Kiyo die! When it was over, I carried Kiyo's body in the backyard and buried him under the big tree. I couldn't tell his parents because they would call the police. When I was carrying him, something fell out of his pockets. A birthday present he got me." Naomi slid off her bed and got something from her backpack. She tossed the item and Cagalli caught it.

"A pencil box…?" Cagalli tried opening it but it wouldn't budge.

"Unfortunately, I can't get it open. It broke when it fell. Like my laptop, I carry it with me everywhere. It is a sort of reminder of my cowardice…" Naomi continued, "There's a bit more. As I told you earlier, my father worked at Junius 7. He…he was there when it was destroyed. After that, my mother killed herself. I ended up in a foster home. My new parents were Naturals. We were all living in Heliopolis before this happened…before it was developing those mobile suits and before ZAFT attacked…"  
-  
Yzak stood outside with a tray of breakfast, listening to the conversation. He had already gotten to every other room. He decided that the last plate of food had gotten cold already, so walked back to the kitchen for fresh food.  
-  
Cagalli looked at the little trinket and gripped it tightly. She walked over to Naomi and placed her hand on her shoulder comfortingly. Naomi avoided Cagalli's gaze and took the small pencil box and put it into her pocket.

"Kiyo sounded…sounds like a very good person. There is no doubt in my mind that he would've forgiven you. Your past is not important. What matter is what is happening right now! You can't let the same thing happen again. You can not hide yourself forever. Innocent people do not deserve to die because of your past. You have to accept what has already happened and stop living in your damn past!" Cagalli started shouting as drops of tears fell from her eyes.

Naomi walked back to her bed and lied down on her bed. She closed her eyes, "Yea…fine, fine. You stubborn, slave-driving jerk." She got up to a sitting position, looking at the ground. "I'll help you. Just stop battering me. Jeez, you're annoying."

As the girls stood there, smiling at each other, Yzak stepped into the room with a tray of fresh food. He gave Naomi a strange look, "Naomi…was it? A Coordinator…"

Naomi jerked her head up, thinking she heard her name. She looked up and saw Yzak standing there. Cagalli stood up and grabbed the food, handing it all Naomi who looked a bit pale. Naomi accepted the food gratefully and began to chew uncomfortably as Yzak watched them.

Yzak walked away put passed at the door. He looked back and met gazes with Naomi for just a moment. A bit of rage and annoyance flowed through her as she wondered how much he heard. Yzak's face seemed to be in the midst of a smile and a scowl as he left the room.

Cagalli looked at Naomi's face which seemed full of color again. "So what's the plan?"

Naomi walked to her laptop. She opened it and turned on Hacker Mode. "Well, the escape pods are located quite a distance from here. Walking around with a dozen people following us will not be easy…but I suppose we have to choice but to try?"

"Okay. Getting past that, what is the plan?"

"I have no idea what so ever. I haven't thought of one yet, but basically, it starts with us setting a date and telling everyone so they can prepare." Several windows popped up. "Our best bet is in a week; the anniversary of the Bloody Valentine. Everyone will be busy mourning and feasting and everything, it is the perfect time to get the hell out of here."

"You are not going to mourn or anything…"

Naomi clenched her fists, "There's going to be plenty of time for that _after _we escape, but for now, we need to focus on our plan."

Cagalli said nothing and simply pulled up a chair next to Naomi as she spoke. "You see this box here?" she traced her finger around a rectangular figure on the other side of the ship, far from their rooms or the escape pods. "This is where the main water supply is. From there, it runs through dozens of pipes to bathrooms, the hangar, and etcetera. Six days from today, we will tell everyone the codes to their own door…if you haven't already that is." Cagalli grinned innocently. "On the seventh day when everyone is already distracted, we head to that room. We mess with the pipes so it leaks just enough for them to notice and go to fix it as an extra precaution Since it is so far away, they probably won't notice us leaving."

"We should check it out soon to make sure we can get in and know how to sabotage it ahead of time."

"I agree. Also, we will need to steal a few tools from the hangar and I will have to head to the escape pods to make sure I can actually operate them." Naomi closed her laptop and tilted her chin up, looking at the ceiling in a condescending fashion. "It is not _that_ hard to come up with a plan. Sheesh." She turned her head to Cagalli and shrugged.

Though Cagalli was slightly offended, she was clearly able to see Naomi was back to her old, annoying self. "For now, let's get some more rest. We'll check things out in the morning."

Naomi pointed to the leftover breakfast foods on the tray. "It _is _morning, you moron. What you _meant_ to say was, 'Let's get a few more hours of sleep before we sneak out, risking lives stupidly and steal a few tools _tonight_.'"

"Yes."  
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Does this chapter seem a bit short or am I going crazy? Let us hope I do not lose my mind before I finish the story. I'd say another couple of chapters or so and I am done?


	7. Scars

For the second time, they snuck out of their rooms in the middle of the night. The hallways were as empty as the last time. Naomi and Cagalli memorized the map and were on their way towards the hangar with Naomi in the lead. Every corner she would stop, kneel down close to the floor, and look at the area ahead to see if anyone was there. She taught Cagalli to do this and explained other people mainly expect to see others at their eye level.

Tiptoeing, they finally arrived at the small door to the hangar. The two discovered the hangar was so dark they couldn't see their own hand in front of their faces. Naomi opened her laptop and handed it over to Cagalli carefully. She held it up in front of her like a flashlight to guide toward the light switch that should've be on the left side of the wall somewhere. They fumbled about the walls for a few minutes. Naomi felt a handle on the wall. It seemed to be stuck at first so Naomi pushed it downwards with all her strength. The lever finally went downwards, making a loud sound due to the unneeded pressure put onto it.

The lights blinded them. It took them a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the lighting and the amazing sight. Four mobile suits stood tall in front of them. Naomi hurried to some tools left over on the ground by workers, too lazy to put them back in their proper place, thank goodness. Naomi put a few tools scattered on the floor into the toolbox and grabbed carried it with her. She stared at the mobile suits with wonder on her face. "Looks at these things…they're magnificent."

"I'd rather not…"

Naomi probably would've wondered about Cagalli's reaction but was too interested in the machines to pay attention or care. She searched the information on her laptop and read aloud the special features on each mobile suit starting with the Aegis. She moved on to the Buster, Blitz, and finally the Duel. She tilted her head, particularly interested in the Duel. She touched the cold metal and felt a rush sympathy. "The pilot is a very sad person intent on revenge." 

"Huh?" Cagalli looked at Naomi curiously.

"It has been in battle recently. The deep scratched show how persistent the pilot was in destroying the enemy…not _just _the deep scratches either…Something else too… The grudge was personal, that's for sure…" She searched her computer for the pilot. The screen showed a single name: Yzak Joule (or Jule. It depends really). Her mind flashed back to the white-haired boy and how he his face was clear one time she saw him and scarred the next. Naomi walked past Cagalli and towards the light switch once again. She placed her hand on the handle and stared at the wall as she mumbled to herself. "His zealous desire for revenge will get him killed…" Cagalli hadn't heard her words as the room suddenly went dark. She looked confused as to why Naomi did what she did.

A voice was suddenly heard at a small distance. "What was that? Who's in there?"

Footsteps began to approach rapidly. Another door in the hangar opened. Athrun stepped in looking around. "I could've _sworn…_" 

Someone else came in too. "Dammit. You have to be so loud and wake everyone up. Stop dreaming and go to sleep you idiot." 

Naomi recognized the angry voice easily and gave a short gasp. The toolbox she carried rattled a bit. Yzak looked in the direction of his mobile suit where Cagalli and Naomi were hiding. Naomi held her breath and Cagalli peered at the soldiers, seeing Athrun look dumbfounded and she smiled, slightly amused by the green-eyed boy. Athrun stood in place and turned his head carefully, scanning for movement, or a source of light, or anything of the sort. Satisfied that no one was hiding, he left.

Yzak stopped talking and listened carefully for any more strange noises. He looked around noticing the tools he left on the ground in front of his mobile suit earlier were missing. Yzak figured some imbecile had put them away without letting him know. He turned and walked back to his room to continue his slumber.

Cagalli breathe a sigh of relief. She smacked Naomi's arm gently, "What the heck was that? You almost got us caught!"

"Well, _sorry."_ She said sarcastically. "I promise I won't get in your way next time." She stuck her tongue out at Cagalli.

They stayed in their place for a bit more until they were certain the ZAFT soldiers were gone and back to sleep. They crouched to the door they came from before and hurried back to theirs rooms. Naomi hid the toolbox underneath the table for hiding.

Naomi lied on her bed and stared at the ceiling once again. She moved her fingers forming invisible words in the air. She sat up and hugged her knees, closing her eyes and thinking. Still in the same position, she moved so that she was lying on her side. She got up suddenly, "I'm bored." Cagalli made no effort to respond. "We have six days to kill until we can get the heck out of here. Hmmm I wonder how I am going to find my parents when we get to Earth. Ha-ha. They probably panicked when they found out I was missing."

"How come you all weren't on the same pod?"

"I was 'talking' to a person…" Naomi's face turned a bit red with embarrassment that sort of looked like anger, "and stayed after school with him. That was a big mistake." Naomi let a big sigh out. She lied on her stomach, supporting her head up with her hand.

"You were at school with a _guy_? Where is he now?" Cagalli grinned.

"On Earth I'm betting. When he heard the alarm and notice, he freaked out and ran away, leaving me there all alone, screaming like a girl for the nearest escape pod. What a wuss."

"Oh." She looked disappointed she had nothing to tease Naomi about. "But if you hadn't been at school with the jerk, you wouldn't be here, and who knows what would've happened."

"What ever. I didn't exactly choose to be held hostage and be paired up with an unpleasant person like you."

"Don't tell me… umm, you never liked the guy, he was nothing special, so and so?"

"Oh, he was something special alright." Cagalli looked at Naomi. "It takes a real kind of man to pick on a bunch of little six-year olds because they were Coordinators. Neutral land on or not; you see that kind of crap all the time. How sickening. There were plenty of older, male Coordinators he wouldn't dare pick on because he was afraid of getting his face shoved into the dirt. He didn't even try picking on the ten year olds because he was afraid. Bullying them certainly isn't going to make them disappear. He was wasting his energy on something pointless."

"This whole war is pointless. Endless numbers of people are being killed. It is a very sad time."

They both frowned and sat. Athrun stood outside listening in on their conversation with a sad frown on his face as he thought of his mother. His thoughts turned to his former friend. The next time they see each other, he might have to shoot him down. It is a sad time indeed. For a while, the two girls talked about the war. When they got tired, they decided to go to sleep. When things started to get quiet and the light was turned off, Athrun left. Though it felt like only a few minutes since Naomi fell asleep, she knew it had been hours. She woke Cagalli up as well and they snuck out.

Several times they saw people at the end of the hallway and had to change their course. One of them had heard the girls' breathing and approached rapidly. Cagalli reached into her pocket and ran down the hallways, being very loud. Naomi, confused, followed as quickly and quietly as she could. When they reached a fork, Cagalli turned right. As the soldier in hot pursuit approached, Cagalli turned around and tossed a small metal object in the other direction of the hallway. She and Naomi hid behind another turn as the guard followed the sound of the object.

The girls took a few moments to catch their breaths. "What was _that?_"

"That was in case we got caught by someone. With what happened in the hangar, I think these people are beginning to suspect the civilians."

Naomi smiled at Cagalli, "Congratulations. Some of my cleverness and fast-thinking skills is rubbing onto you."

Cagalli was used to Naomi's smart remarks by now and didn't even bother replying. Instead, they continued to the main water room. Once there, Naomi hacked the ship again and opened the locked door. They stepped in and Cagalli watched as Naomi examined the pipes, wires, and main computer system that controlled the flow of water.

She plugged her computer into it and scanned the print blue prints carefully. "There's a kind of bolt here," she pointed at the monitor and then to the side of the giant machine, "where you loosen it up a bit with a wrench or some sort. I would say you have to turn it about…half way to the right. I'll fiddle around with things computer-related. After we finish up here, we have about four minutes to get back to our rooms and act innocent while the hallways fill up with a few centimeters of water and the toilets and sinks overflow. That's more than enough to catch their attention, but not enough that they have to worry about water getting into our rooms and drowning us."

Cagalli nodded. "Isn't there a way to make that time longer? It might take a while to get back and…"

"Nope, I can't change it. Even if we _don't_ get there in time, odds are that things will be just fine. Everyone _should_ be too busy trying to fix the water and respecting those from Junius 7 to really _care_ about us. That's why we need this to all happen on that day."

Cagalli nodded her head, trusting Naomi. "Let's get back now." They left the room, locking it behind them, praying silently their plan will work. Otherwise, they, and every other civilian are going to have several dozen loaded guns pointed at their heads.  
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I already have _plenty_ of ideas for my next chapter, so I think it is coming soon! Bye.


	8. Preparations

The Bloody Valentine happened in February…but I wanted to make a Halloween special instead of this chapter… Since February and October are clearly months apart, I will just have to add the Special at the end…which means I will probably finish the story before the end of October (which I was planning to do anyways since there is only one more normal chapter after this one). That will be all. Go ahead and read (and review).

I would've finished this chapter ages ago but procrastination took over… I blame my friends who wouldn't leave me (or my house) alone.  
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Whenever Naomi mentioned the mobile suits or ORB, Cagalli would seem to get uncomfortable. It's been like that for a while and Naomi was finally sick of Cagalli's secretiveness and started to search information on Cagalli on her laptop. After all, how common could a name like "Cagalli" be?

Naomi was very surprised to see who exactly she was. Cagalli suddenly slammed down on Naomi's laptop, closing it and stopping Naomi's search. "What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything, Miss Yula Athha; little prissy princess of ORB." Naomi laughed mockingly as Cagalli sighed. "That explains all your reactions towards mobiles suits made by, of course, ORB and why you were at Heliopolis in the first place. Congratulations, we officially know each other."

"…Perfect…" Cagalli wasn't worried Naomi was going to tell anyone, especially while they were on a ZAFT ship. The soldiers could've used her as a hostage to convince her father of joining ZAFT. Nope. She was just worried this bit of information would make Naomi think she has the right to boss her around, laugh at her constantly, and be even more annoying than usual.

"You couldn't have stopped me from finding out anyways. If you weren't so obviously disturbed, I wouldn't have known to snoop." Naomi was grinning from ear to ear.The next day was killed by reading the few chapter books Naomi kept in her backpack, only stopping to eat, drink, talk about the plan, or nap to get ready for the night where they had to sneak out once again and tell everyone about their big plan of escape and the codes to their own door.

Oddly, Naomi didn't once bring up Cagalli's identity or her title or anything but escaping. Normally, she wouldn't have dropped the subject, even for a second. She didn't even joke around about it with Akito and his family when they visited them that night.

Naomi had changed since they first met. It wasn't a very dramatic change, but she _was_ a bit less sarcastic and made Aya and Akito happy when they visited. Sure, she wasn't going to pick up the kids on her back and run around the room or anything, but at least she wasn't making the little children sad with her bitter remarks. At that point on, Akito wasn't the only one that was able to cheer her little sibling up when she was having a tantrum. Having the slightly-changed Naomi around was enough to keep her from crying, though she still craved for attention.

All the other civilians felt the change too. Naomi had stopped waiting outside the room, near the doorway, or by the corner. Instead, she stood next to Cagalli as the blonde-haired girl talked to them calmly. Naomi would say a few sentences about their plan but never said any words of false comfort and lies, and they never expected her to. A lot of the times, she wouldn't talk to them at all because she didn't know them, but not saying anything was plenty times better than saying something insulting. A few of the ZAFT soldiers saw the change too (Three guesses who). 

Every time Athrun checked on the civilians, he made a bit of small talk. He noticed Naomi had lost the edge on her voice, especially when she was talking with Cagalli. They seemed to have been fairly good friends, but always argued and bickered playfully and occasionally, angrily.Even Yzak had noticed the small change, even though he had never talked to them, he had seen Naomi smile more often compared to earlier times.

That day was an awkward one. Naomi was feeling especially different and she randomly waved at Yzak when he brought in food. He wasn't expecting it at all and just stood there. Cagalli watched the strange episode and started to laugh. Naomi gave her an annoyed look and punched her lightly. He hid his face in the shadows and left the room and walked down the hallway, listening to a girl's laughter and more punching sounds.

Nicol passed him by in the hallway and turned around once they passed each other. He walked backwards and stared at Yzak's back, wondering if he was just imagining a _smile_ on Yzak's face. Sure it seemed confused and slightly angry, as always, but it was almost gentle, and it was a smile nonetheless. Nicol didn't know had happened, but it was a nice change of pace. Anything that can make Yzak smile can't be all too bad at all. He continued walking to find the source, never thinking that it was one of the civilians who caused it.

Just two days left until the plan was to start. Two days until they were finally home with the rest of their family, friends, and loved ones in a new but friendlier environment. Absolutely no one could wait. The kids were more excited within their rooms. Their parents had an even harder time controlling them because honestly, they wanted to join their kids in acting silly and thrilled. The bitter, elderly man hadn't yelled at the girls, the people in the next rooms for being loud, or his unfortunate son in days. Things were finally looking up for the civilians.

Naomi lied on the floor with her legs propped straight up against the wall of the room, humming to herself. She yawned and kicked her feet against the wall. Cagalli watched her. "Where are you going when we all escape?" Naomi asked suddenly.

"I could get transport ships to take everyone to their families."

"Awesome! Are they first-rate luxury ships? I can't wait to se the looks on my parents' face when they see me coming home in a giant…"

"No…they're normal transport ships."

Naomi mumbled to herself. "Way to kill my fun…"

There was not much was left to be done so the girls turned in early, as well as everyone else on the ship. The next day, everyone packed the things they were given and thought they needed for the trip inconspicuously. They were careful not to get caught by the crew members and questioned why they were packing as if they were leaving on the day before the day of grief for the Bloody Valentine.

They took some essentials such as blankets if they got cold, food and water, and extra items for the young ones; anything they could carry easily. Some of them took the bathroom soaps and lotions and carried them or put them in their pockets like they would do at hotels. They were already prepared to leave. They left all the things they wanted to take in a hidden spot so no soldier would see them as the two girls instructed them to do.

Cagalli hadn't packed anything at all since she had no luggage with her. She figured if there wasn't anything wrong with the escape pod like the one at Heliopolis, she wouldn't need anything. Besides, she could share Naomi's supplies. They weren't bringing much of their own stuff. Cagalli offered to take most of the edible supplies since Naomi had her backpack. Unfortunately, with Naomi's books, she couldn't fit everything in her backpack.

"No way! I just bought these books…sure I've already read them…but they were expensive! I'm not just going to leave them here for some food we won't even need." Naomi put down her laptop to her side and hugged her backpack, greedily as she stuck her tongue out at Cagalli and made a face.

Cagalli knew she was kidding around, but she couldn't stand how childish she was being. Cagalli tried to jump for the backpack and Naomi laughed when she pulled it away. She gently hit Cagalli's head with the bag and gave it to her. "I just needed that laugh."

Naomi sat with her back against the wall, typing away on her laptop with an almost grim and concerned look on her face. Cagalli held the backpack and began packing, occasionally looking over. Every time she did so, Naomi would cover the screen. "It's nothing important…really!" she gave a smile, but her eyes were filled with worry. "Let's prepare for tomorrow." Naomi closed her computer and placed it next to her backpack instead of in it. "I'm going to be carrying that around tomorrow…"

Cagalli couldn't help but to wonder why. She crawled into her bed as exhaustion took over. "Tomorrow, we are leaving this place once and for all." She said unconsciously to herself as she drifted off to sleep.   
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This chapter is a bit on the short side, but I want to save the rest for the next chapter. I think it will be pretty long compared to my other chapters.


	9. Forgiven

I birng you the final chapter….not counting the Halloween special afterwards. Beware, because I shall tell you ahead of time, the Halloween special will be chuck full of Mary-Sue goodness (or badness). Well…it won't be horribly-a-lot, but there is going to be a lot. Anyways…there is a little in this chapter… 

**Note:** If you are reading this long after I have first posted it, then you probably should stop after reading this chapter if you are one of those people who like to soak in endings. Otherwise, go right ahead and continue to the Halloween thing later on. It takes place in ORB after the Archangel reaches there and the ZAFT boys are there undercover and everything.  
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Cagalli was woken up by Naomi the next morning. She was getting her pencil box as a good luck charm and prayed that it wouldn't be a symbol of yet another failure. She held it to her chest and then slipped it into her pocket. She held her laptop at her side. Cagalli carried the toolbox and they were off to tweak the water system. They were certain the other civilians were awake because they told them exactly when they would start the plan.

Naomi and Cagalli slipped past rooms and hallways quietly and despite being the afternoon, no one was in the hallways. They got to the other side where the main water systems were. Naomi hacked the door open and locked it just as a soldier walked down the hall. Cagalli loosened the bolt as Naomi started to type quickly. She closed her laptop and Cagalli put the tools back in their container. Soon enough, the sound of the running water began to change and eventually stop flowing to the room, spilling out everywhere else. Naomi and Cagalli grinned at each other and left the room. Naomi locked the door in a way so that no one could get in and fix the problem any time soon.

They entered their room in a hurry. Panting a bit, the girls waited for a few minutes, expecting the soldiers to check up on them to make sure they were all present in their rooms. "I assume everything went right?" A random soldier opened the door, peered in, and continued running down the already wet hallways, careful not to slip. Cagalli nodded. Cagalli grabbed their backpack as Naomi peered both ways out the door. No one seemed to be around.

Water dripped nosily as Naomi knocked on every door, signaling everyone to come out. The old man complained about getting his shoes getting wet, and the kids splashed each other. Cagalli calmed the group down and they moved out with her in the lead and Naomi in the back to make sure no one fell behind. The group moved as quietly as anyone could, stepping on endless flowing water spread across the floor.

Someone in a distance cried out, "The civilians are gone!" Murmurs were heard. Another person bellowed, "There are tools inside the main water system rooms! They've tampered with the ship."

"How did they get out?" "What else could they have done behind our backs?" "Did they steal information for the Naturals?" the voices raised.

Naomi gave Cagalli a mental glare and urged everyone else to hurry up. "Crap, crap, crap…"

"They couldn't have gotten far! Find them." A more important voice commanded the others. The footsteps scattered in all directions.

Two soldiers appeared in front of the civilians. They were going to shout to everyone else they found the escapees, but Cagalli shut them up first. She tackled the guy on the left and he fell to the ground with a _thud_. As the other guy reached for his gun, Naomi ran up and kicked the weapon out of his hand. She then punched him in the stomach and he fell in pain. She took a blanket from her backpack and tied the two guys out and gagged their mouths.

Cagalli said a word of thanks and they went back into the order they had been running in earlier, with the girls directing the rest to keep moving and where to go. They had just about reached the areas where the escape pods were, when they met yet another soldier. He pulled out his gun and pointed at one of the teenage girls standing not too far behind Cagalli and fired. The girl took a hit in the ribs. Remarkably, her bleeding wasn't very bad.

Cagalli froze, watching one of the others bleeding. She yelled out angrily. The shooter stepped back a few steps in fear, but not because of Cagalli's yelling. A shot was heard from behind. Cagalli flinched and ducked slightly. She turned around and saw Naomi holding a gun pointed at the man. The soldier's leg was bleeding. He yelled out in pain, dropped his gun, and fell down. He hit his head on the wall and was unconscious.

"Let's keep going! We're almost there! Hurry up!" Naomi told everyone. Cagalli was staring at Naomi.

"Where…"

"I stole it from the other soldier when I tied him up. I would've gotten you one, but I assumed you weren't a good shot…which would mean you would've hurt more than helped."

"I don't want one anyways. Have you ever fired a gun before? What if you had missed or…?"

"I've never had, and I didn't. There is no time to scold me right now. Let's go already!" Naomi looked back at the man. "Sorry about all this. You aren't going to bleed to death though." She turned and ran.The little kids were crying, especially Akito and Aya. The adults were grim and tried to quiet their children down as they quickly passed the bleeding man, occasionally staring over their shoulders and seeing them, still on the ground. Finally, they had reached the escape pods. They all let out sighs of relief. Naomi opened up her laptop and started to hack a pod. It opened automatically. The pod seemed like a small space shuttle. A small bridge led up to the pod from the main flooring.

Cagalli had been helping the shot-girl's friends carry her. When they all reached the pod, she urged the others to go in first and carefully assisted the girl in. Naomi stood at the entrance with Cagalli and her laptop, looking around. Above them, there was a whole other floor that had railings to keep people from falling off. She moved her hand in a motion, signaling at Cagalli to go as she continued typing. Beads of sweat traced Naomi's face. "What was wrong with her?" Cagalli thought.

Yzak had entered the area and stood at the bridge where the girls were. He stared at Naomi for a few moments, amazed at what he was seeing. His face grew angry and he pulled out his gun. "Get back here!" he saw the computer. He had heard what the others had been saying. "You aren't getting away!"

The door to the escape pod behind them started to close. The people inside the pod started yelling at the girls to get in. A few adults tried to hold the door open to no avail. Naomi pushed Cagalli inside the pod right before it closed. A gunshot exploded from above and hit Naomi in the shoulder. She started to bleed as she desperately clung for her computer, trying not to drop it.

She looked over her shoulder, seeing Yzak's hand shaking violent while holding a smoking gun. The image of Naomi shooting the soldier earlier had immediately popped into Cagalli's head.  
Naomi shook her head, giving him a sad smile. His hand impulsively held steady and started to lower.

The soldier Naomi had shot before had been faking consciousness and managed to crawl to the second floor with another gun. In fury to get revenge and loyalty to his fellow troops, he shot at Naomi again and again and again before he fell to the ground, this time he was truly out cold.

Naomi leaned heavily on the railing of the small bridge. Her wounds deep. There was no time for her to reopen the door to escape and limp in before the doors close again. If the pod took too long to leave the ship, the technicians might've regained control over it and kept it there. What would happen then? They'd all be shot like she was. Naomi wasn't going to let that happen. She carefully held up her laptop and started to push a few more buttons. The engine of the pod started up and started to go. The ZAFT soldiers started to shout at each other, telling each other to stop it somehow. Their systems wouldn't operate. They were locked out of anything that had to do with the escape pods. The civilians were finally out and freed.

Cagalli watched Naomi's blood pour out onto the ground from the inside. Tears were in her eyes as she pounded at the closed door and yelled. Naomi couldn't even hear Cagalli. All the noises were just blurs. Her eyes filled with tears too. She couldn't hold onto the railing and tilted forward, expecting to hit the hard ground. Surprisingly, something soft had caught her. Two gentle arms.

Funny how Naomi smiled not all too often, yet, that is what she had on her face at that moment. She bled and bled, and all she could do was smile. A new feeling of knowing and realization washed over her; a feeling without a single trace of condescendence. She no longer felt sad for her family or her old friend. He died, but had always loved her, he probably would've forgiven her for letting him down, and she had always cared about her anyways. She even managed to make a new friend in Cagalli and managed to find an interest in something else. Naomi felt free.

Naomi's face looked upward and at Yzak. She slowly reached into her pocket, taking out her pencil box and held it as high and close to Yzak's face as she could. "…Revenge only kills…I mean, look at me after all" she let out a weak laugh, "…Please forgive… just forget your grudge…"

She turned her head behind her, using the rest of her strength to give Cagalli a final wave good-bye. She closed her eyes and fell forward, limp and motionless. Yzak held her uncertainly. He winced and touched his scar. "'forget my grudge'? Could I do that?" he thought to himself. He shook his head violently to clear his thoughts.

She dropped the pencil box and it fell to then floor, cracking wide open.

Cagalli pounded on the window before they were completely out of sight. She fell to the floor, giving up all hope as the pod fell into space. She yelled, shrieked, and screamed her lungs out.

**…From the moment they meant, she was a sarcastic jerk, mocking others and not being particularly nice to anyone…  
**

…"**Calm down. Do you **want** them to shoot you?"**

**She had a terrible smirk and acted tough.**

**…"Damn. This ship better be tough. I don't plan on dying here."**

**…She would stare at one of the soldiers and doze off a lot at some points… She'd smile…**

**…When they were mad at each other…**

**…"We can't afford to risk our lives to save the rest of them."…**

**…When she told about her past…**

**…"It is a sort of reminder of my cowardice…"…**

**…When she started to change...**

**…But she never really changed…**

**…"I'll help you. Just stop battering me. Jeez. "…**

**"Way to kill my fun." "We have six days to get the heck out of here." "Where are you going when we all escape?"…the words echoed endlessly.**

The soldier throughout the entire ship cursed at the escapees but smiled that they managed to get the one with the computer. Athrun, Nicol, and Dearka watched from the second floor, tending to the injured man, their faces were grim as they looked down at their colleague, kneeling on the floor. His arms reluctantly shook as he pulled the corpse closer to his beating heart. He let out an angry, but silent scream.

******It wasn't really fair. That blonde girl and her were the best of friend after some time. All he knew about her was that she was weird, sarcastic, and different. She'd say some of the weirdest things about him. Grudges, revenge, scars, hate. She knew somehow. She knew a lot, but not everything. And she is never going to get the chance to. Ever.**

Everything happened so quickly. The sound of metal hitting metal wasn't even heard. On the ground was the pencil box Naomi had dropped. It broke and lied open. On the lid, scribbled in dry, years-old blood were the words, "I forgive you."  
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End file.
